


The archer

by jacemorgensterns



Series: Never wanted easy [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:15:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28128984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacemorgensterns/pseuds/jacemorgensterns
Summary: Now that Draco and Hermione find themselves in a tentative relationship, a number of bumps in the road will test how strong their bond is and where their limits lie.  Sequel to Delicate, can be read as a stand-alone. Soulmate AU, Dramione, Draco POV.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Series: Never wanted easy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2060700
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	The archer

Draco had been an avid reader since he was young. He was raised on muggle classics like _Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice_ and _Romeo and Juliet._ As much as his parents claimed they disliked muggles, there were certain aspects of muggle culture that they’d adapted into their everyday life and subsequently in Draco’s upbringing. When he got to Hogwarts his reading hours had been limited to school books, but in his summers he devoured books as though he got more clever with every book; during the day in the sun by the pool, at night by the light of his enchanted nightlight when he was supposed to be asleep, on holiday in Greece or Croatia on the beach or in the restaurants while they were waiting for their food. He’d read every popular fiction book that he felt existed in the wizarding world and at age sixteen was therefore convinced he knew everything there was to know about romantic love.

Well, Hermione Granger proved him wrong. 

Of course, sixteen year old Draco Lucius Malfoy was just a child whose world was about to be turned upside down so badly he would never be the same. At sixteen he had to be an adult that he wasn’t yet and take on responsibilities that no person should take on regardless of age. His friends, his girlfriend, her friends and himself were existing in the uncomfortable in between of being a stupid teenager and a responsible adult and it made for strange situations. Maintaining a relationship and intending for it to last was very adult, but doing it in a school setting with homework to do and quidditch to play felt like he was sucked back in time.

Regardless, he’d discovered since the first school day that he didn’t actually know everything. More importantly, he discovered that was fine. He wasn’t supposed to know everything. He couldn’t know everything. Hermione always said that she wasn’t interested in it being easy and Draco doubted that it would be. He wanted it to be difficult and worth fighting for, instead of difficult and not worth it. He had been told time and time again that he was a difficult person to deal with. His issue now, knowing that Hermione wanted to be with him and that they were both in this for the long term, was how to find the balance between being himself and not being so irritating to her that she decided it wasn’t worth it anymore. 

However, he did know a few things, just enough to make sure they could get past the uncomfortable first half year when they hardly knew each other. He knew he should under no circumstances allow any of the situations as summed up if he wanted Hermione to keep liking him enough to continue to give their relationship a try:

  1. He should not spend a longer period of time with Hermione uninterrupted and with no one else around. He gathered the maximum period that this could work without backfiring was two hours. Small parts of Draco was all anyone really needed to get to know him and get used to him. He found himself annoying every now and then and he spent every day with him, so he would know.
  2. He should definitely not mention any of the following topics to Hermione or around Hermione: his parents, his family money, anything that had to do with the Sacred 28, his aunt or uncle, the Death Eaters or Ron Weasley. All of the above inspired a strong reaction that neither one of them should want to get into and it seemed that Hermione was avoiding them too.
  3. Blaise Zabini should not be allowed near Hermione. Draco was vaguely aware Blaise wasn’t doing it on purpose, but the last three times they’d sat together for any meal Blaise either broke rule two, suggested breaking rule one or said something else that made Hermione frown deeply, then regard him as though she discovered something about him she wasn’t sure she liked.



If he stuck to those rules, the rest of the school year should be manageable. Once they both graduated with the inevitable high marks, she got whatever job she wanted because anyone ever would hire Hermione and Draco was figuring out what next they could get into the uncomfortable and the most difficult parts of being together. As long as they were in the in between, it should stay as light and easy as possible. After all, they had more important things to focus on and deal with. 

Of course, whenever Draco thought he had a good plan, it tended to backfire (comically) fast. But not this time, he’d been determined. He stuck to it and had been mostly successful for the better part of three weeks since Hermione’s birthday. He’d made kicking Blaise under the table whenever he was about to put his foot into his mouth into an art form, made sure to always invite others when Hermione wanted to do homework together and disappeared whenever she got the Daily Prophet and opened it intending to read it, which wasn’t every day thankfully. This time Draco was determined. It wasn’t backfiring. He could do this.

That was before he spotted his father in the Entrance Hall, talking to Slughorn no less. As many plans he had, he didn’t have an escape plan for the unthinkable. 

He was ascending the stairs with Hermione, Pansy and Blaise after their Transfiguration class before lunch. Hermione and Pansy were walking a couple of feet behind them talking about the class and Blaise had been in the middle of a rant about quidditch when Draco interrupted him. 

“Pinch me,” Draco told him softly.

“What?”

He’d forgotten that Blaise was one of those people that had to ask when given strange instructions, instead of follow them. He shot a look behind him at Pansy and Hermione, who were multiple stairs behind them and were talking so animatedly it was possible that they would walk straight past whoever was standing in the Entrance Hall.

“Hey, what’s your father doing here?” Blaise asked.

“Okay, so I’m not hallucinating, thanks for that.”

It was at that point that Blaise side-eyed him. “I know you’re not the biggest fan of your old man, but being unable to recognize him after only one month in school is a new low even for you.”

As if Lucius Abraxas Malfoy wasn’t the most recognizable person alive in the wizarding world. The long, blond hair and the grey eyes were such distinguishable features that it was hard _not_ to know who you were faced with. Draco found the Death Eater mask always sort of ridiculous on his father, considering that. Draco had been unrecognizable with his mask on, but Lucius’ hair always gave him away. 

Another look at Lucius made him conclude he’d have to act fast. “Pans, Hermione, would you mind getting me a book from the library? I forgot to do my Herbology homework and I really need it fast because the class is today and Sprout will not be pleased.”

“Sure,” Hermione said. “What book do you need?”

Draco threw out the first Herbology-related book that came to mind. “Sapworthy’s _Winogrand’s Wondrous Water Plants._ It’s for an essay on water plants.”

Pansy frowned at him. “But we don’t have an essay due on -”

As a last resort, Draco used the word Pansy hardly ever heard him use. “Please?” he tried as he looked at her pointedly.

It didn’t surprise him that hearing that word changed her face expression. It may also have to do with the fact that she looked into the Entrance Hall and undoubtedly spotted what Blaise and him had done as well. She nodded briefly.

“I just remembered I also need a book,” she said. “But I actually need help finding it and I think I found just the right person to help me.”

Hermione smiled at that. “I appreciate that you appreciate my knowledge of the Hogwarts library,” Draco caught her say as the two girls left in the opposite direction of the Entrance Hall on their way to the library. 

Draco could feel Blaise was about to comment (anyone in his situation would, Draco certainly would have if the roles had been reversed) so he side-eyed the other in warning and raised his eyebrows as though to say ‘I dare you to make fun of me.’

It worked. For a couple of seconds. Then Blaise chuckled as the two of them ascended the stairs and made their way into the Entrance Hall.

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

Sure he wasn’t. Much like him Blaise always had something to say. 

Blaise smirked at him and crossed the Entrance Hall into the Great Hall then. Draco glared at his friend’s retreating back for a couple of seconds before sighing to himself. He may as well get it over with, he figured. The news wasn’t going to change no matter how long he was postponing getting into it. Frankly, in case of his parents screwing things up he’d learned it was better to know at his earliest convenience because it gave them more time to fix the situation. 

Draco made his way over to Slughorn and paused in front of the two men dryly. Both looked up and looked at him as though they didn’t know what he was doing there, which was either a weird first response or just a stupid assumption that he wouldn’t find them standing in the Entrance Hall right at lunchtime. 

“What are you doing here?” Draco asked his father without greeting him.

“Hello to you too, Draco,” Lucius replied, eyebrows raised at him while a pair of grey eyes identical to his own scanned his features. “I thought your mother and I raised you better than to approach either one of us without greeting us.”

“Well, the last time any family members of ours was here the place got trashed, so I’m quite comfortable getting to the point.” He had vivid memories of Bellatrix demolishing the castle just because she felt like it while Snape kept yelling at them that they needed to get out before the Order caught up with them. Then there was the Battle of Hogwarts, which seemed to have left no room untouched. 

“I see why you have issues with him in your class, but for some reason the other teachers don’t report any problems with his behaviour,” Lucius remarked to Slughorn. 

“Well, the other teachers don’t get on my nerves like you two,” Draco replied without a second thought and flashed a dry and sarcastic smile in the men’s direction. “And you didn’t answer the question.” His patience with his father was on the low side since he got imprisoned and acting as though he had any sort of authority over Draco had been laughable since then as well.

“You don’t have to worry, it’s not about you,” Lucius replied. “Although your mother told me to send you all her love if I saw you. She’s been thinking about your letter.”

Of course she had. That was just a vague enough description to leave Draco puzzled and worried both, and therefore inclined to write another letter. That was undoubtedly exactly what Narcissa wanted, because Draco had been somewhat harsh. However, at this moment it was also beside the point because he recognized his father was deflecting and trying to get him to respond to the words about his mother.

With Slughorn there and listening to every word, though, there wasn’t much that Draco could say. He folded his arms over one another and stared up at his father for a couple of seconds with his signature brooding face expression before he spoke. “Then why are you here?”

Lucius met his eyes and in the few seconds that followed, Draco felt like they had an entire conversation just in looks. The old father-son dynamic between them was long gone, as was expected the moment Lucius went to jail and Draco was supposed to step up and take Lucius’ place, and now their dynamic was just weird. It worked for them, though, and it did this time. No, Draco didn’t trust Lucius as far as he could throw him and Lucius knew as much, didn’t agree with it but had to. 

After those seconds, Lucius gave in. “It’s about Theo.”

Draco was puzzled again immediately. “What’s going on with Theo? And why are _you_ here if something is going on with Theo?”

Theo didn’t take Transfiguration, the class that Pansy, Hermione, Blaise and him exited on their way to the Great Hall. After Potions that morning they agreed to meet for lunch and that was the last Draco had obviously seen of Theo. Everything had been completely normal and fine then and Draco couldn’t figure out what he missed. 

That was when Slughorn stepped in. “Theodore is doing fine, Draco.”

Draco didn’t do as much as look at him. “That doesn’t reassure me and yet again is not an answer.”

Lucius sighed before stepping away from Slughorn and walking in the direction of the exit to the dungeons, but he paused when he thought to be out of earshot from Slughorn. Draco followed his father after a quick look aside at Slughorn.

“Theo reached out to your mother and me when it turned out the school needed a contact person in case of an emergency for every student. Theo’s father is in Azkaban for the foreseeable future and this emergency contact needed to be an adult. We’ve known Theo since you were both young and we wanted him to be able to go back to school. We thought he’d have told you.”

“He probably didn’t think it would ever be relevant,” Draco said. He was glad that Theo felt comfortable enough with Draco’s parents to reach out and ask. It didn’t once occur to him that they needed adult emergency contacts since they were all adults that survived a war. It seemed ridiculous, honestly, but that was exactly what Hogwarts was known for in his mind.

“But it is relevant now,” he realized. “You’re here. What’s going on?”

That was where he visibly saw Lucius hesitate. Of the three of them - his mother, his father and himself - it was Lucius that was the most emotional. As the only one that wasn’t an Occlumens, his emotions were the most on the surface and could be read off his face sometimes. This was one of those times and he didn’t like it one bit. 

“Dad -” Draco pressed, using another word he hardly used, knowing full well Lucius would be affected by it. “You can tell me. What is it?”

Another look at him, and Lucius made his way downstairs into the dungeons. After a confused look at his father’s back, Draco hurried after him. Going into the dungeons wasn’t about not wanting to be overheard anymore. No, exiting the public room and walking towards a space where it was doubtful anyone would be, meant it was news Draco didn’t want to receive with any kind of audience. 

It was nearby the entrance to the Slytherin common room that Lucius stood still and turned to face Draco. Draco waited, arms folded over one another and eyebrows raised. He was bracing for impact and knew Lucius knew it.

“There’s been incidents in Azkaban,” Lucius said then. “The Dementors are gone, but the Ministry of Magic is struggling to figure out what new security system to implement. The Dementors kept prisoners calm. Now it’s not calm anymore. There’s been riots and Theo’s father got injured.” 

The silence that followed was anything but calm. Draco wasn’t sure how to respond. He wanted to correct his father on his word usage about the Dementors. Calm? They kept prisoners haunted and traumatized. He’d seen it in a number of his family members. He wanted to state matter-of-factly they could both have been there, as if his father wasn’t completely aware of that. He wanted to laugh and point out that of course the new Ministry of Magic didn’t have it together, even if Draco knew prison reforms weren’t that easily done, especially when the prison was full. 

In the end, he had a one-word question that did make it from his thoughts to his mouth. “Rodolphus?”

Lucius shook his head. “We don’t know anything else. The only reason your mother and I were told anything at all was because someone needed to tell Theo. We tried to find out more, but they won’t tell us anything about Rodolphus because he’s not our family.”

“He _is_ our family,” Draco said frustratedly. The man had been a widower for half a year after he watched his wife get killed and they had already disregarded the marriage. He wasn’t surprised anymore at this point. Sighing, he brought up a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming. “How bad is Nott’s state?”

“It’s too soon to tell,” Lucius said. “Apparently he did not make any friends in Azkaban. He’s in St. Mungo’s now, in a protected ward.”

That left Draco with a last question, and one concern in the forefront of his mind. “Where is Theo now?”

“In the Hospital Wing, he -”

That was when Draco promptly turned around and ran in the direction of the stairs that led to the Entrance Hall. If Theo was in the Hospital Wing after hearing the news about his father, there was nowhere else Draco should be. Apparently Slughorn and Lucius thought he could be left by himself with Madam Pomfrey watching over him, and while Draco didn’t doubt Madam Pomfrey’s capabilities he did know his friend like no one else. Theo’s brain would have gone over the subject ten times by now and he would have drawn his own conclusions. If nothing else, Draco should be there to hear them.

“Draco!” Lucius yelled after him.

For a change, Lucius would have to follow him. 

**Author's Note:**

> theo's going to be absolutely fine.


End file.
